The story behind my pumpkin cupcakes
Autumn and Halloween are my favorite seasons right behind Christmas, but I think I already told you that and what kind of fruit is in season during fall? It’s pumpkin! And Styria the part in Austria where I am living is famous for it’s pumpkins and pumpkin seed oil! So basically pumpkin and pumpkin seed oil is running in our veins like maple syrup is in the blood of Canadians 😉 Thats why I needed to make a pumpkin cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frosting. We’ve even put some pumpkin seed oil on top of the finished cupcake, right before serving and they were very delicious.
I have been making cupcakes since the young age of 15 with my sister Nina. We’ve been experimenting a lot (yeah nothing changed we still have small catastrophes happening in our kitchen cause of our experiments once in a while) and we’ve made a lot of cupcakes over the years. These pumpkin cupcakes are perfectly moist with the perfect amount of spices and combined with my favorite vanilla frosting a truly dream come true. Like biting into pure bliss!
How to make these delicious Pumpkin Cupcakes:
We start with the pumpkin cake made with real pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice. I always prepare a lot of pumpkin purée which I than try to use up and try to incorporate it in as many recipes as possiple! I always use Hokkaido Pumpkin, slice it and roast it in the oven at 180°C for 20-30 min until soft. Then I puree it in my high speed mixer. Voila now you’re ready to make these delicious Pumpkin Cupcakes!
Ingredients for the pumpkin cake
- Whole Grain Flour
- Baking Powder
- Homemade Pumpkin Spice
- salt
- Pumpkin purée
- Coconut oil, melted
- Brown sugar –> adds a caramel quality
- Granulated sugar –> adds sweetness
- Egg
- Pure Vanilla extract
1.Step
Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare a muffin pan with 6 cupcake liner
2.Step:
In a large bowl mix together the whole grain flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice and salt.
3.Step
In a smaller bowl combine the pumpkin purée, coconut oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
4.Step
Using an ice cream scoop or spoons, divide the batter evenly onto the 6 cupcake liner. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean at 180°C. Let it cool completely before frosting
Now to my favorite frosting in the world – Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting!
This is my all-time favorite frosting and always the basis for other flavors of frosting! You know this is not just a plain-old recipe for vanilla frosting, this one is one of a kind! My secret recipe for frosting cakes and cupcakes. Psst don’t tell anyone! You know the secret ingredient is the caster sugar. Every Cream cheese frosting recipe in the world wide web calls for powdered sugar but I make mine with caster sugar. I don’t like my frosting extremely overly sweet which happens when you use powdered sugar, because when using powdered sugar you need a lot of it.
This recipe is for a small patch of cupcakes, but making frosting for only 6 is very difficult, just FYI and you will need a standing mixer like a Kitchenaid or something similar because the butter and the sugar need to be beat for at least 5 minutes.
The 4 holy ingredients:
- Butter
- Caster Sugar
- Vanilla extract high in quality
- Cream Cheese
Like I already said, first you need to beat the butter and the sugar until pale and fluffy for at least 5 minutes, always scraping down the sides during. Then add the vanilla and beat again. This is the most IMPORTANT step add the cream cheese and carefully beat only until it’s just combined. Do not over beat it!!
Pipe the frosting on top of the little cakes and then dip the edges into the pumpkin seeds.
How to make little marzipan pumpkins
These little pumpkins are the perfect decoration for halloween too!
You will need:
- Green Fondant (I used this one)
- Orange Marzipan-Fondant (I used this one)
- Brown Fondant (I used this one)
or you could color your marzipan yourself – this is the perfect step by step directions if you’re coloring it by yourself
Lets begin with the orange pumpkin:
Cut the orange marzipan into 3 parts lenghtwise. You will need two parts. Now you divide the 2 parts into thirds and shape little balls. With a toothpick make intends where the stems and the green ranks will be placed afterwards. Press creases along outer edges from top to bottom for pumpkin ribs.
Next to the stems:
You will only a little bit of the fondant. Cut little pieces from the brown fondant and shape into small robes
Last but not least the pumpkin tendrils:
Just repeat the step how to shape the stems. You will only need a little bit of the fondant. Cut little pieces from the green fondant and shape into small tendrils.
Attach the stems and the green tendrils on the top of the pumpkin, pressing with a toothpick to adhere.
Believe me you need to make these cupcakes ASAP. They are like I already said perfectly moist, perfectly spiced and with the best vanilla cream cheese frosting 😉 This recipe is only for a small batch of cupcakes but you just need to increase the ingredients and you will be perfectly fine if you like to have more than 6 cupcakes-
Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram @twosisterslivinglife or hashtag #twosisterslivinglife. You can find us on Facebook too and Nina and I would be more than happy if you followed us on our social media channels for more delicious food pictures and infos to what we are up to at the moment.
Love, Antonia
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Course: cake, DessertCuisine: American6
30
minutes20
minutes478
kcalThese Pumpkin Cupcakes are perfect for the fall season and for Halloween. They are moist and oh so perfect and with the vanilla cream-cheese frosting just pure perfection!
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
3/4 cup 3/4 whole grain flour
3/4 tsp 3/4 baking powder
1 1/2 tsp 1 1/2 pumpkin spice
1/2 tsp 1/2 salt
3/4 cup 3/4 pumpkin puree
1/4 cup 1/4 coconut oil melted
1/4 cup 1/4 brown sugar
2 Tbsp 2 granulated sugar
1 1 egg
1 tsp 1 vanilla
1/4 cup 1/4 butter
1/2 cup 1/2 caster sugar
8 oz 8 cream cheese
1 tsp 1 vanilla
1/3 cup 1/3 pumpkin seeds lightly chopped
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare a muffin pan with 6 black cupcake liner
- In a large bowl mix together the whole grain flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice and salt.
- In a smaller bowl combine the pumpkin purée, coconut oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Using an ice cream scoop or spoons, divide the batter evenly onto the 6 cupcake liner.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean at 180°C. Let it cool completely before frosting
- Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the softened butter and the caster sugar until pale and fluffy for at least 6 minutes. It needs to be very light in color. Add the vanilla beat again. Add the Cream Cheese and only beat for a short time. IMPORTANT Don't overbeat it! only until its just combined!
- Pipe the frosting on top of the cake and then dip the edges into the pumpkin seeds.
Nutrition Facts
- Calories: 478kcal
- Carbohydrates: 44g
- Protein: 6g
- Fat: 32g
- Saturated Fat: 21g
- Cholesterol: 89mg
- Sodium: 401mg
- Potassium: 256mg
- Fiber: 2g
- Sugar: 32g
- Vitamin A: 5550IU
- Vitamin C: 1mg
- Calcium: 97mg
- Iron: 1mg
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @twosisterslivinglife on Instagram and hashtag it with
Like this recipe?
Follow @twosissterslivinglife on Pinterest
Give us a follow!
Follow us on Facebook
Pin me!
2 comments
Hey, this recipe sounds delicious, and your love for pumpkin really shines through! I was wondering, do you always use homemade pumpkin spice, or could a store-bought version work just as well? Also, for those of us in different regions, is there another type of pumpkin that can be used instead of Hokkaido? Keep sharing your tasty adventures!
Hey Lieselotte, thank you for your question. Butternut squash or any other kind of pumpkin or squash with more flavor can be substituted for Hokkaido. happy Tuesday!